The semantics of singular terms

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
There is a distinction within the natural language between those singular terms which designate and those which do not. On the basis of this distinction there arise irregularities both in the assignment to expressions of semantical properties and relations and in the presumed attribution of existence to individuals. Although such irregularities are characteristic of the employment of singular terms, they are not reproduced either for or within the usual formalized languages. Accordingly, we construct a formalized language for which the mentioned irregularities are reproduced — hence, a language which in this respect mirrors more faithfully than is customary the structure of the natural language.

This publication has 13 references indexed in Scilit: